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April 20
Events *1303 - The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. *1534 - Jacques Cartier begins his voyage, in which he will discover Canada and Labrador. *1653 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament. *1657 - Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. *1657 - Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City). *1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry. *1775 - American Revolutionary War: the siege of Boston begins, which followed the first battles at Lexington and Concord. *1792 - France declares war on Austria, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars. *1810 - The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain. *1828 - René Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter in Timbouctou. *1836 - U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory. *1861 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia. *1862 - The first pasteurization test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard. *1871 - Civil Rights Act of 1871 *1884 - Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical, Humanum Genus. *1902 - Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride. *1908 - Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League. *1912 - Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. *1914 - Seventeen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a bitter Colorado coal-miner's strike. *1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day. *1926 - Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film. *1945 - World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union. *1945 - World War II: U.S. B-29 bombers destroy the Musashi Aircraft plants, halting production of the Nakajima Ki-84 fighter planes. *1945 - Mayor of Leipzig, Germany, killed himself along with his wife and daughter *1961 - Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US troops against Cuba. *1962 - First production of Bentlage brand cigars, Habana, Cuba. *1964 - BBC Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station. *1967 - A Swiss Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126. *1968 - A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at Windhoek, South-West Africa, killing 122. *1968 - English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech. *1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the Moon. *1978 - Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets. *1980 - Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested. *1985 - ATF raid on The Covenant compound in northern Arkansas. *1986 - Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years. *1986 - Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in a NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics. *1998 - TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53. *1998 - German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years. *1999 - The Columbine High School massacre leaves 15 people (including the two gunmen) dead and 24 wounded in Jefferson County, Colorado. *2004 - In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92. *2007 - Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a hand gun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center before killing a male hostage and himself. Births *570 - Prophet Muhammed, founder of Islam (d. 632) (date disputed) *702 - Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d. 765) *1494 - Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566) *1586 - Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617) *1633 - Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654) *1646 - Charles Plumier, French botanist (d. 1704) *1650 - William Bedloe, English informer (d. 1680) *1668 - Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (d. 1739) *1718 - David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747) *1723 - Cornelius Harnett, American delegate to the Continental Congress (d. 1781) *1745 - Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826) *1808 - Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (d. 1873) *1818 - Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893) *1826 - Dinah Craik, English author (d. 1887) *1850 - Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931) *1851 - Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875) *1870 - Maulvi Abdul Haq, Father of Urdu, Pakistani scholar (d.1961) *1879 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944) *1882 - Holland Smith, U.S. General (d. 1967) *1889 - Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and social activist (d. 1996) *1889 - Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany (d. 1945) *1890 - Maurice Duplessis, premier of Québec, known as "Le Chef" (d. 1959) *1891 - Caresse Crosby, American poet (d. 1970) *1893 - Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971) *1893 - Joan Miró, Spanish Catalan painter (d. 1983) *1895 - Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973) *1896 - Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952) *1904 - Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972) *1904 - George Stibitz, American scientist (d. 1995) *1908 - Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002) *1914 - Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999) *1915 - Joseph Wolpe, South African-born psychotherapist (d. 1997) *1918 - Edward L. Beach, American naval officer, author (d. 2002) *1918 - Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate *1919 - Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (d. 1943) *1920 - John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court Justice *1920 - Ronald Speirs, WWII Veteran (d. 2007) *1921 - Janine Sutto, French Canadian actress *1923 - Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster *1923 - Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000) *1924 - Leslie Phillips, English actor *1925 - Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d. 2006) *1927 - Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate *1928 - Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (d. 2007) *1928 - Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003) *1936 - Pat Roberts, American politician *1937 - George Takei, American actor *1939 - Peter S. Beagle, American author *1939 - Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway *1939 - Johnny Tillotson, American singer *1941 - Ryan O'Neal, American actor *1943 - John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor *1943 - Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d. 1971) *1945 - Michael Brandon, American actor *1945 - Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach *1946 - Julien Poulin, French Canadian actor *1946 - Mel Winkler, American voice actor *1947 - Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (Blue Swede) *1947 - Andrew Tobias, American journalist and author *1947 - David Leland, British actor, director and screenwriter *1948 - Craig Frost, American musician (Grand Funk & Bob Seger) *1948 - Adolf Lu Hitler Marak, Indian politician *1948 - Gregory Itzin, American actor *1948 - Rémy Trudel, French Canadian politician *1949 - Massimo D'Alema, Prime Minister of Italy *1949 - Veronica Cartwright, American actress *1949 - Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skater and artist *1949 - Jessica Lange, American actress *1950 - Steve Erickson, American novelist *1950 - Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002) *1950 - Chandra Babu Naidu, Indian politician *1951 - Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005) *1952 - Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball coach *1953 - Sebastian Faulks, British novelist *1953 - Michael Q. Schmidt, American actor and model *1954 - Gilles Lupien, French Canadian ice hockey player *1956 - Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician *1957 - Geraint Wyn Davies, Welsh-Canadian actor *1958 - Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player *1961 - Don Mattingly, American baseball player *1961 - Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor *1963 - Mauricio Gugelmin, Brazilian racing driver *1963 - Aubrey de Grey, English pro-life activist *1964 - Crispin Glover, American actor *1964 - Andy Serkis, English actor *1964 - Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater *1965 - Ralph Cirella, stylist and friend of Howard Stern *1965 - Adrian Fernández, Mexican racing driver *1967 - Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player *1967 - Mike Portnoy, American drummer (Dream Theater) *1967 - Lara Jill Miller, American actress *1968 - J.D. Roth, American game show host and television personality *1970 - Shemar Moore, American actor *1970 - Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer *1971 - Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer *1971 - Allan Houston, basketball player *1971 - Tina Cousins, English singer *1972 - Carmen Electra, American actress *1972 - Le Huynh Đuc, Vietnamese footballer *1972 - Stephen Marley, Jamaican musician *1973 - Geoff Lloyd, British radio presenter *1976 - Joey Lawrence, American actor *1976 - Shay Given, Irish footballer *1977 - Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, professional wrestler *1978 - Mirei Kuroda, Japanese gravure idol *1980 - Jasmin Wagner, German singer *1981 - Matus Valent, male fitness model *1983 - Terrence J, American television host *1986 - Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (d. 2003) Deaths *1176 - Richard de Clare, English soldier (b. 1130) *1314 - Pope Clement V (b. 1264) *1521 - Zhengde, Emperor of China (b. 1491) *1534 - Elizabeth Barton, English nun (executed) *1558 - Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b. 1485) *1643 - Christoph Demantius, German composer (b. 1567) *1703 - Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632) *1765 - Abigail Williams, American accuser in the Salem witch trials (b. 1674) *1769 - Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa *1831 - John Abernethy, English surgeon (b. 1764) *1874 - Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (b. 1817) *1887 - Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b. 1826) *1873 - William Tite, English architect (b. 1798) *1899 - Joseph Wolf, German artist (b. 1820) *1912 - Bram Stoker, Irish author (b. 1847) *1918 - Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850) *1932 - Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (b. 1858) *1945 - Erwin Bumke, German jurist (b. 1874) *1947 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870) *1951 - Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873) *1964 - Eddie Dyer, baseball player (b. 1899) *1977 - Sepp Herberger, German football coach (b. 1897) *1982 - Archibald MacLeish, American poet and Librarian of Congress (b. 1892) *1984 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943) *1986 - Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist, journalist and writer (b. 1916) *1989 - Doru Davidovici, Romanian writer and fighter pilot (b. 1945) *1991 - Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912) *1992 - Benny Hill, British comedian (b. 1924) *1993 - Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b. 1911) *1994 - Jean Carmet, French actor (b. 1920) *1996 - Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne (b. 1920) *1999 - Victims of the Columbine High School massacre *1999 - Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958) *1999 - Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist and comedian (b. 1896) *2001 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946) *2002 - Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925) *2003 - Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908) *2003 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976) *2003 - Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911) *2005 - Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist (b. 1904) *2005 - Zygfryd Blaut, Polish football player (b. 1943) *2006 - Anna Svidersky (b. 1988) *2007 - Andrew Hill, American jazz composer and pianist (b. 1931) *2007 - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931) Holidays and observances *Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá'í Faith). *4/20 in cannabis culture. Liturgical feasts *Saint Agnes of Montepulciano *Saint Marcellinus *Saint Victor (d. 303) *Saint Theotimus (d. 407) *Blessed Oda (d. 1158) External links *BBC: On This Day * *On This Day in Canada ---- Category:April